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Coinbase launched agency-only OTC trading

Coinbase is the latest cryptocurrency business to launch an OTC trading desk, following companies such as the Goldman Sachs’ backed Circle and Cumberland. The announcement has been made through an interview with Cheddar and the service is already live.

Only a few months after announcing Coinbase Custody, a custodial solution for storing funds for institutional investors, the leading U.S.-based crypto exchange is already moving forward with the expansion within the digital asset space. OTC or Over-The-Counter trading allows exchanges the easier on-ramp of institutional investors as both buys and sells can be done through a fixed price instead of relying on exchange liquidity.

“We launched our OTC business as a complement to our exchange business because we found a lot of institutions were using OTC as an on-ramp for crypto trading,” said Christine Sandler, head of sales at Coinbase in the interview. “We felt this was a huge benefit to our clients to actually leverage both our exchange and our OTC business.”

Christine also stated that the reason for the timing is that demand for OTC trading is constantly growing with institutional clients. When asked about the general opinion of these clients on the downwards volatility, she responded that there has been no fundamental changes with cryptocurrencies and that the technology is still respected and in demand.